There’s nothing quite like eating a sweet strawberry you grew yourself in an aquaponics system. Strawberries are a fairly forgiving crop overall, but there are a handful of details worth knowing before you get started, so you can get it right on your first attempt. Vertical towers and NFT (nutrient film technique) channels both work well for strawberries; deep water culture is a poor match, since strawberries fruit best when the berries can hang freely rather than sit against wet media.

Temperature

Strawberries actually prefer cooler conditions than many aquaponics crops — it’s part of why you don’t see them growing naturally in hot desert climates. If you’re gardening somewhere warm, you can still succeed by timing your growing season for the cooler months or by using evaporative cooling. Aim for a temperature range of 60-80°F (15-26°C), which is broad enough that almost any fish species will also be comfortable at those temperatures.

Air temperature matters even more than water temperature for getting the plant to flower and fruit well. Daytime readings in the 60-80°F range are fine, but letting nighttime temperatures drop to around 55°F will slow the plant’s overall development while helping the berries grow larger.

Water pH

Your pH needs to work for both your fish and your strawberry plants. Strawberries do best with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5; push the water too acidic beyond that range and the plants won’t survive.

Nutrients

As a fruiting crop, strawberries need more potassium than typical leafy greens require. It’s generally easier to grow strawberries in a system that’s already established, since by that point you’ve likely had to raise the pH a few times — and each time you do that, you’re also adding calcium and potassium, which the plant can then draw on to produce fruit. A good target EC (electrical conductivity) for strawberries is around 1 milliSiemens per centimeter, which works out to roughly 500 ppm.

The Best Way To Grow Strawberries In Aquaponics

Strawberries can technically grow in almost any media setup. A standard gravel media bed will work, but it’s not as effective as either a vertical strawberry tower or an NFT channel system.

A popular DIY option is a vertical tower built from PVC pipe with holes cut into the sides, staggered so you can fit as many plants as possible into a small footprint. Fish-fertilized water is pumped in at the top of the pipe and trickles down the inside walls to reach the roots at each hole, keeping the roots moist while keeping the crowns of the plants dry — which matters, since strawberry crowns tend to struggle if they stay wet. This kind of tower is inexpensive and simple to build, and you can add more towers over time to grow your system.

NFT channels are another solid option, and they’re popular with commercial growers because they make harvesting the fruit easy.

Where To Get Strawberry Plants

Strawberries are typically propagated from runners — shoots the parent plant sends out that essentially clone itself. Growers cut these runners off and use them to start new plants. Growing from seed is not practical for most people, since it can take two to three years before a seed-grown plant produces fruit. You can buy young strawberry plants at almost any garden center, and they’ll typically adapt well to your system. Taking cuttings or runners from someone who already grows strawberries is another easy way to get started.

Choosing Your Fish

The pH strawberries need runs a bit lower than some other aquaponics crops, but it still falls comfortably within what most fish species can tolerate. If you’re new to aquaponics, tilapia is a solid default choice thanks to their tolerance for fluctuating water conditions. For something different, crappie, koi, or sunfish can also do well alongside a strawberry crop.

The Bottom Line On Aquaponic Strawberries

A lot of growers struggle with strawberries because they don’t keep close enough tabs on water quality. Strawberries need nitrates to grow, but elevated ammonia levels can kill them quickly. If your fish population is too large for your grow bed, or your system doesn’t have enough beneficial bacteria to convert ammonia into nitrates fast enough, both your plants and your fish will suffer — the strawberries won’t be able to help keep the water clean the way a healthy plant bed should, and you may see your fish grow sluggish or start dying off as the strawberries wilt. The fix is straightforward: keep a close eye on your water chemistry and make small nutrient adjustments as needed, and you’ll have a much better shot at success with aquaponic strawberries.